The great majority of the commercial vehicles, aircraft and the like include decals on their body surfaces. These decals are used to spell out a company's name, or display a slogan, picture, logo or the like while also making the vehicles more visible at night.
Vinyl decals are constructed from polyvinyl materials and are secured to the vehicle surface with an adhesive specifically designed to keep the decal in place for a long period of time and through exposure to a wide variety of temperature, weather conditions, washings and commonly encountered solvents.
When a vehicle is transferred from one company to another or when the owner merely wishes to change the decals on his vehicle, some method must be used to remove the old decals. However, due to the nature of the decals and the adhesives used to adhere them to a surface, the decals are very difficult to remove by conventional means. This is particularly true of decals that have been attached for long periods of time.
A method of removing these decals using a chemical composition which could be applied to loosen these decals from a surface has long been sought. A method which is effective for removing reflective decals is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,549 (incorporated herein by reference). That method uses chemicals, such as methylene chloride, which require special handling so that the chemicals do not contact the skin. Such special handling is not always possible or desirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,472 (incorporated herein by reference) discloses a method for removing decals. However, the method disclosed therein has not been commercially successful. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,950,185; 3,661,641 and 3,625,763 (all incorporated herein by reference) disclose methods for removing various coatings but are not directed to the problem of removing vinyl decals. Those patents also disclose formulations which contain chemicals which might adversely affect painted surfaces to which decals are typically applied. Furthermore, some prior methods for removing decals do not work satisfactory at low temperatures.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 131,888, now abandoned, filed Mar. 20, 1980 (incorporated herein by reference) discloses a method for removing vinyl decals. The present invention is an improvement to the invention disclosed in said application.